A mum whose 14-year-old daughter ended her life is encouraging others to eat healthily to help cope with bereavement.

Grainne Gault’s daughter Elisha died on St Patrick’s Day but her body was recovered from the River Suir near her home of Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, a week later.

The grieving mum made the remarks before taking part in a protest over the weekend in Clonmel to highlight the lack of services in Tipperary for those with mental health difficulties.

Residents have to travel to Kilkenny, or Ennis, Co Clare, for treatment. Ms Gault, who is originally from Belfast, said: “During times of grief, its very hard to stay on top of all your previous plans and goals.

The remains of 14 year old Elisaha Gault are carried by her parents, Gráinne and Cameron (centre, and back left of coffin)from the Church of the Assumption, Piltown (Image: Collins Agency, Dublin)

Elisha Gault (Image: TV3)

“My problem has always been [how] to handle my pain and hurt, not from overeating but of eating the wrong foods which primarily consist of high carbs and poorly processed foods. These pile on the weight, leaving me sluggish, tired, unmotivated which becomes a vicious cycle of feeding my depression.”

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Writing on Facebook Ms Gault said eating healthily will not take away her feeling of loss and grief but, “eating crap will make the grieving process 10 times harder”.

She added: “It’s a struggle. When you lose a child it’s an extremely tough mental battle to find any light.

“That you still have to live and achieve all the goals you had previously planned.

Grainne Gault on the Pat Kenny Show (Image: TV3)

“I was falling back into habits of old and that old mindset of, I’ll start again tomorrow, until I realised, I have allowed myself way too many tomorrows when it comes to eating well to help [me cope with the loss of my daughter].

“I have detoxed myself of carbohydrates and my sugar addiction again. I am focused on my food preparation and meals that are going to work with my mood, give me more energy and help me reduce the symptoms of depression."